KWRD (AM)

KWRD (1470 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a sports format with programming from NBC Sports Radio. Licensed to Henderson, Texas, USA, the station serves the Henderson-Longview-Marshall area. The station is owned by Jerry T. Hanszen through licensee Hanszen Broadcasting.

History

Licensed in 1955 1470 KWRD was started by Wesley R. Dean, who was a former local TV star at KTVE in Longview, Texas. Dean went to Henderson to start his station, only to find that there was already one radio station in the city, KGRI AM 1000. KGRI was owned by country music star Jim Reeves. Dean applied for a license and got one in 1955. The station was assigned (by request) KWRD. The call letters stand for Dean's name.

K-West of the Mississippi
W-Wesley
R-R.
D-Dean

Originally KWRD was licensed as a class D AM daytime only station at 500 watts with one tower. Dean had bought a complete turn-key RCA transmitter and studio facility. For many years Henderson operated with 2 AM stations. In the 1960s KGRI signed on with an FM, 99.9 (so that both stations on an analog dial would be 100). After Jim Reeves death in 1964 his partner Tom Perryman and Jim's wife Mary moved to Murfreesboro, TN and bought WMTS AM/FM. Reeves and Perryman eventually sold KGRI AM/FM to Wesley Dean. Dean was offered a large amount of money to turn off AM 1000 so that another station could raise power. This left KWRD as the only AM station in Henderson.